Zimbabwe News Online (18) - 4/15/98

ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE/ZIMBABWE NEWS ONLINE/ZIMBABWE
NEWS ONLINE

Edition #18 15 April 1998

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In this edition:
Feature:
(no feature available in this edition)
Stories:
1. Labour movement movement planning new strategy
2. Mugabe should not quit alone - minister
3. Thirty five witnesses to testify in Banana case
4. State loses dipping chemicals worth Z$600 000
5. Maize output falls in most SADC states
6. Traditional healers plan to set up college
7. Bank loses Z$1,3 million in robbery
8. Government writes off first lady's debt
9. Government sponsors splinter union to undermine
ZCTU

Stories:

1.Labour movement movement planning new strategy

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) leadership
is holding meetings with its members throughout the
country to map out new strategies of confronting the
government after it refused to succumb to the labour
movement's demands for a reduction in sales tax and
the scrapping off of a five percent development levy.

Last month the ZCTU organised a successful two-day job
stayaway in an attempt to force the government to act
on its demands, but the government remained steadfast
in its refusal to give in to the workers' demands.

In an interview, ZCTU secretary general, Morgan Tsvangirayi
said: "We had a stayaway and the government has
not acted on issues we presented to them, and so we
have decided to go round the country and report back
to the workers. What we are telling our members is
that the government is refusing to negotiate and so
what do we do next?"

The labour rallies which are a new development in the
history of the country, come at a time when President
Mugabe has labelled the labour movement as an opposition
party. Tsvangirayi has dismissed the allegations as
unfounded and said the ZCTU was simply pursuing a labour
agenda to deal with issues that affect workers.

Meanwhile, speculation is rife in the country that the
ZCTU has decided to adopt the stance taken by the Confederation
of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) during the apartheid
era, of becoming the pillar of resistance to the government.

The ZCTU has since December last year organised two
mass actions, a nationwide demonstration against tax
hikes which resulted in millions of dollars worth of
property being destroyed or looted, and a peaceful
two-day stayaway at the beginning of last month.

2.Mugabe should not quit alone - minister

A senior minister in Mugabe's government, Didymus Mutasa
who is the ruling ZANU PF party's secretary for administration
and also a member of the Politburo made an unprecedented
move last week by saying all his cabinet colleagues
and members of the Politburo must also step down together
with president Mugabe should the electorate decide
that the president must go on the ground of misgoverning
the country.

In an interview with a weekly paper, Mutasa said: "What
I am saying is that all those of us who have governed
and ruled with the president for the past 18 years
should get out with him if the reasons that he has
stayed for too long and has misgoverned are genuine.

"The reason being that all of us, including those
who are calling on Mugabe to step down, have been with
for all these years, meaning that we have also overstayed
and misgoverned the country".

3.Thirty five witnesses to testify in Banana case

The state has lined up 35 witnesses to testify in the
trial of Zimbabwe's first president, Canaan Banana,
who is facing 11 charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy
and indecent assault.

The trial is scheduled to begin on June 1, and is expected
to last about three weeks. Banana's lawyers could not
immediately say how many witnesses they would call
to support their client who has publicly denied the
charges being laid against him.

Among top state witnesses to testify will be vice president
Simon Muzenda, Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa,
retired army and airforce commanders General Solomon
Mujuru and Chief Air Marshal Josiah Tungamirai. Current
and former police commissioners, Augustine Chihuri
and Henry Mukurazhizha will also be called to give
evidence on behalf of the state.

Banana, a respected Methodist Church minister, academic
and international peace broker is alleged to have committed
the offences between 1980 and 1987 when he was state
president. Last year he petitioned the Supreme Court
to have his trial permanently halted, arguing that
negative pre-trial publicity had contravened his constitutional
right to a fair trial.

4.State loses dipping chemicals worth Z$600 000

The government has lost cattle dipping chemicals worth
more than Z$600 000 as a result of corruption and poor
management by officers in Chipinge district which borders
neighbouring Mozambique.

According to a report carried in the Herald, the loss
was discovered following an audit by the Ministry of
Lands and Agriculture last week which confirmed rampant
incidents of corruption and mismanagement. The missing
chemicals are reported to have been sold to farmers
from Mozambique whose livestock has been hard hit by
tick infestation.

A statement from the ministry said the veterinary officers
in the district did not have a proper books of accounts
and this had resulted in misappropriation of dipping
chemicals as well as some animal vaccines. The ministry
has since instituted an internal investigation which
is likely to see some officers appearing in court on
theft and corruption charges.

5.Maize output falls in most SADC states

Maize output in most SADC states including Zimbabwe
which holds the food security portifolio is expected
to decrease this year following the adverse effects
of delayed rains and dry spells in February.

According to the SADC food security report, only four
countries, Angola, Malawi, Zambia and Swaziland will
have an increased output compared to last year because
they received normal or above normal rainfall.

The report said the regional maize shortfall is estimated
at over a million tonnes for the 1998/99 marketing
year. The reduction in production in some countries
like Zimbabwe was attributed to reduced hectarage of
maize as a result of fear induced by the predicted
El-Nino drought.

In Zimbabwe uncertainty over land designation also resulted
in a drop in production.

6.Traditional healers plan to set up college

The Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers' Association
(Zinatha) plans to build a college to educate traditional
healers on plant medicidnes following a marked increase
in the demand for traditional medicine.

According to the chairman of Zinatha, Professor Gordon
Chavhunduka, the college is expected to be opened this
year, at a time when traditional medicines are fast
gaining popularity, especially in the face of the AIDS
pandemic. At least Z$10 million is needed to establish
the college which will initially enrol 50 students.

Professor Chavhunduka said there were many people aspiring
to be traditional healers, hence the need to have such
a college.

If established, the college will be the first one of
its kind in Southern Africa. The professor said focus
during training would be on two branches, namely plant
medicine and spiritual healing. The college has already
been approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and
Technology. He said traditional medicine was lagging
behind so-called modern medicine because before independence
blacks were brainwashed into thinking that the use
of traditional medicine was taboo.

7.Bank loses Z$1,3 million in robbery

Six armed robbers posing as telecommunications technicians
last week pounced on a suburban branch of Stanbic bank,
held up workers and got away with Z$1,3 million in
one of the country's biggest bank robberies since independence
in 1980..

The gang members, who were dressed in Posts and Telecommunications
technicians' uniforms escaped in a red Nissan truck.
Police are appealing to members of the public to help
with any information which might help in their investigations.

8.Government writes off first lady's debt

The government has written off much of the debt incurred
by the First Lady Grace Mugabe for the construction
of her mansion in Harare's upmarket suburb of Borrowdale,
contrary to reports in the government-owned Herald
that she had paid off every cent she owed for the house.

Reliable sources in the Ministry of Local Government
and Public Construction said on completion, the house
which had initially been projected to cost Z$6 million
had gobbled up Z$10,5 million, mostly in materials
supplied by the ministry.

The first lady has since advertised the house for sale
with a price tag of Z$25 million in a move seen to
represent excessive profiteering using taxpayers' money.

In a separate interview with the Zimbabwe Independent
last week, the secretary for the Ministry of Local
Government, Willard Chiwewe said the First Lady had
paid Z$4,5 million which he believed to be the full
amount for the house, and said he was unaware of the
Z$10,5 million suggested by ministry insiders.

9.Government sponsors splinter union to undermine ZCTU

Wary ofthe legal and political implications of banning
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the government
has resorted to undermining the labour movement through
sponsoring and strengthening a splinter trade union
federation.

According to an article published in the Zimbabwe Independent,
the splinter union known as the Zimbabwe Federation
of Trade Unions has recently been attacking the ZCTU,
accusing it of fraternising with the white community.
These remarks are similar to those which the government
has been singing each time the ZCTU raises its voice
on behalf of the workers.

ZCTU secretary general Morgan Tsvangirayi said he was
aware that the government was sponsoring the splinter
union as a way of undermining the ZCTU but said Zimbabwean
workers knew who their authentic representatives were
and that the splinter union was doomed to fail. He
described government's action sponsoring the splinter
union as an act of desperation by government which
has lost the mandate of the workers.